Portal:Baseball/Selected article/Week 15, 2007

The Youngstown Ohio Works was a minor league baseball team that served as a training ground for players and officials who later established careers in major league baseball. The team is best known for winning the premier championship of the Ohio–Pennsylvania League in 1905, and launching the professional career of pitcher Roy Castleton a year later.

The Ohio Works team was organized in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1903, under the sponsorship of Joseph A. McDonald, superintendent of the Ohio Works of the Carnegie Steel Company. In 1905, the club joined the Class C Division Ohio–Pennsylvania League, which was founded that year in Akron, Ohio, by veteran ballplayer Charles Morton. The name, "Youngstown Ohio Works", became officially associated with the club at that time. From the outset, the Youngstown ball club was managed by ex-major leaguer Marty Hogan, a former outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Browns. In September 1905, the Youngstown Ohio Works won the first league championship.

Youngstown Ohio Works not only gave pitcher Roy Castleton a shot at the major leagues, but also played an indirect role in launching the career of Hall of Fame umpire Billy Evans. On September 1, 1903, Evans, a reporter at The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, was assigned to cover a game between the Ohio Works and the Homestead, Pennsylvania, Library Athletic Club that was held in Youngstown. Evans took his first step toward a legendary career when club manager Hogan offered him $15 to fill an umpire vacancy.(more...) – Archive – Nominations –